Viewpoint: The Pensacola City Council could appoint a task force

At its meeting today, the Pensacola City Council is expected to consider a resolution brought by Councilwoman Sherri Myers establishing a Climate Change Task Force.

If approved, the city's Environmental Advisory Board will determine the objectives and composition of a group charged with reducing the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change and preparing for the climate impacts already in the pipeline.

Establishing such a task force on the anniversary of Ivan would be an appropriate coincidence. Ivan caused the first of three record floods we have experienced in the past 10 years.

The other two — June 2012 and April 2014 — were caused by exceptionally heavy downpours. The National Weather Service reports that the April 29-30 rainfall was "a 1 in 100 to 1 in 200 year event," while one hour of that rain may have been a 1-in-500-year event.

Climate research is consistent in connecting such extreme weather to climate change. Climate change likely intensified Ivan and most certainly our spring deluges, as warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and thereby makes for heavier precipitation. The overwhelming consensus of scientists is that, among other impacts, climate change will increase droughts in the West and flooding in our region.

The National Climate Assessment reported in May that over the past 50 years, the Southeast U.S. had a 27 percent increase in the amount of rain from "extreme daily precipitation events."

Having watched my neighbor's property flood in a few hours in April, I have a good idea of what these "extreme daily precipitation events" look like.

The NCA calculates that by the later decades of the century our region can expect a doubling of the frequency of heavy downpours. And, while computer models do not yet provide the same degree of certainty about the frequency and strength of hurricanes, they do forecast "greater rainfall rates in hurricanes in a warmer climate." Again, not good news for Northwest Florida.

These projections assume we will continue to emit heat-trapping gases at the current rate. So there is a brighter side to the story: if we act soon to address climate change, we can transform gloomy scenarios of increasing frequency and damage of extreme weather events into something manageable.

That is the underlying purpose of the proposed Pensacola Climate Change Task Force: to improve our resilience to costly extreme weather events that put residents and businesses at great risk. The Task Force will guide the city in preparing, not just for a repeat of April, but for more frequent and even more severe downpours in future years.

Right now, the city of Pensacola is reacting to the April floods. By moving to address climate change, the city will become proactive, and it will join many other communities in becoming safer, healthier and more attractive places to live in the coming decades.

There will be those who say, "We can't afford to do this." My answer is, "We can't afford not to do it." As the recent "Risky Business" report by prominent economists and business leaders emphasizes, without action now the risks will multiply and accumulate.

Larry Chamblin is a member of 350 Pensacola, part of an international movement to address climate change.